Richard J. George, Ph.D.

Kroger Deep Sixes Salad Bars

April 14, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Simply put, salad bars no longer make business sense for Kroger in many locations and the chain has moved many of them out of stores and replaced them with packaged meals or expanded produce sections. Are salad bars on the way out at grocery stores?      [more...]

The wilting of salad bars should come as no surprise to anyone. However, neither the salad bar nor the bagged salads ever addressed a missed opportunity for supermarkets. A few years ago while conducting a focus group, a woman remarked, "I want to cook like Emeril!" I replied that we all would like to cook like Emeril. What she was referring to was whenever he cooked something the ingredients were already chopped, measured, etc. and all he did was reach for a cup of shallots for example. It occurred to me that everything needed to "cook like Emeril" was already available in the supermarket. However, it was disguised as a "salad bar." If retailers had changed the name from "salad bar" to "salad and ingredients bar" and modified the packaging/pricing to accommodate cups versus pounds, perhaps we would not be retiring this concept.

Going forward, as more families are preparing meals and eating at home, it seems that this concept of prepared fresh ingredients could provide a real differential advantage to the fresh section of a supermarket. A food retailer who focused on the customer's needs versus simply the layout of the produce department, could allow many of us to "cook like Emeril."